Ok, so I am now up and running with Vista Ultimate RTM. The final gold release from Microsoft.
Vista is to XP as XP was to Win 98.
The first thing you notice about Vista is that it looks totally beautiful and runs smoother and faster than XP. Aero really is a joy to behold and the functionality of the whole experience is through the roof. Everything is polished and new.
So far I've had no compatibility problems at all and installing Vista went without a hitch and was faster than a normal install of XP even, despite being 2.49GB to XP's 550mb.
I've only had a limited time with it so far but I do actually love it. Yes it's true. I have been a Windows enthusiast for a looooong time but Vista is the shizzle. It just is. I will never use XP as a home user again. I have been playing with some of the advanced features of Vista and one of the ones I've had a decent crack at is Voice Recognition. You can now totally control your computer through Vista Voice Recognition and it actually works and is very intuitive. A Microsoft product that works and is intuitive as well?! Say it isn't so!
Vista Media Center is another leap from Media Center XP 2005 and is crammed with a host of new features that I have only had a brief look at. I'd take some screenies but you can't print screen from within MEdia Center and I'm too lazy to setup a screengrab prog. Of course none of this would matter at all if Vista was badly optimized in any way. And well, it's not. Despite the huge graphical leap from XP; Aero runs quickly and smoothly. Security is also insane on Vista but I'll leave that for another topic.
The Sidebar is excellent as well with a host of cool gadgets like RSS feeds as well as tons more to download from M$. Sidebars and widgets and the like have been around for an age but being third-party apps have always been a hit to performance. With Vista it's all intergrated, so it all runs incredibly well. Start-up times are also very quick.
There is way too much to Vista to talk about here.
Over the next few days I will be testing the limits of Vista and delving into more of the advanced features and testing compatibility with the huge amount of tools I run.
For now here are some screenshots I've taken:
RSS News Feeds direct to your desktop.
Windows Photo Galley is a huge upgrade from The Window and Fax viewer from XP. No longer will it just navigate pictures. If it comes across a video it will play it like this episode of Smallville here!
And with a click of the Windows+TAB keys it goes into Flip 3D mode allowing you to quickly and easily navigate all open windows.
Browisng the old Natalie gallery in Vista. You have to see how it deals with pictures and video for yourself. It's just pimp.
Umm.. A TURTLE!
Bitchslapping Vista in the totally awesome Chess Titans that is one of a host of new and updtated games for Vista along with the old classics like Hearts, Solitaire and Minesweeper that have all been given a new coat of paint.
A lame attempt to take a screenshot of the minimize animation when you minimize a page. Doesn't really do it justice. It kinda morphs downwards. Looks kick ass.
That's it so far. I was going to post thumbs of the true 1280x960 pictures but Photobucket sized them down like the piece of shit it is and I can't be bothered to upload them to Imageshack.
More to come soon.
Vista is to XP as XP was to Win 98.
The first thing you notice about Vista is that it looks totally beautiful and runs smoother and faster than XP. Aero really is a joy to behold and the functionality of the whole experience is through the roof. Everything is polished and new.
So far I've had no compatibility problems at all and installing Vista went without a hitch and was faster than a normal install of XP even, despite being 2.49GB to XP's 550mb.
I've only had a limited time with it so far but I do actually love it. Yes it's true. I have been a Windows enthusiast for a looooong time but Vista is the shizzle. It just is. I will never use XP as a home user again. I have been playing with some of the advanced features of Vista and one of the ones I've had a decent crack at is Voice Recognition. You can now totally control your computer through Vista Voice Recognition and it actually works and is very intuitive. A Microsoft product that works and is intuitive as well?! Say it isn't so!
Vista Media Center is another leap from Media Center XP 2005 and is crammed with a host of new features that I have only had a brief look at. I'd take some screenies but you can't print screen from within MEdia Center and I'm too lazy to setup a screengrab prog. Of course none of this would matter at all if Vista was badly optimized in any way. And well, it's not. Despite the huge graphical leap from XP; Aero runs quickly and smoothly. Security is also insane on Vista but I'll leave that for another topic.
The Sidebar is excellent as well with a host of cool gadgets like RSS feeds as well as tons more to download from M$. Sidebars and widgets and the like have been around for an age but being third-party apps have always been a hit to performance. With Vista it's all intergrated, so it all runs incredibly well. Start-up times are also very quick.
There is way too much to Vista to talk about here.
Over the next few days I will be testing the limits of Vista and delving into more of the advanced features and testing compatibility with the huge amount of tools I run.
For now here are some screenshots I've taken:
RSS News Feeds direct to your desktop.
Windows Photo Galley is a huge upgrade from The Window and Fax viewer from XP. No longer will it just navigate pictures. If it comes across a video it will play it like this episode of Smallville here!
And with a click of the Windows+TAB keys it goes into Flip 3D mode allowing you to quickly and easily navigate all open windows.
Browisng the old Natalie gallery in Vista. You have to see how it deals with pictures and video for yourself. It's just pimp.
Umm.. A TURTLE!
Bitchslapping Vista in the totally awesome Chess Titans that is one of a host of new and updtated games for Vista along with the old classics like Hearts, Solitaire and Minesweeper that have all been given a new coat of paint.
A lame attempt to take a screenshot of the minimize animation when you minimize a page. Doesn't really do it justice. It kinda morphs downwards. Looks kick ass.
That's it so far. I was going to post thumbs of the true 1280x960 pictures but Photobucket sized them down like the piece of shit it is and I can't be bothered to upload them to Imageshack.
More to come soon.
